WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Oblivious

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◈ Prince of Rage ◈

Chapter 38

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Valerie’s group was in the tower room of the building they had recently bought.

The ceiling separating it from the floor above was made of wood, but the rounded walls were brick, since the tower was cylindrical.

There was only a round table, as the furniture had not properly arrived yet. Household goods and food were simply piled in one corner.

It had originally been a defensive structure, so it had the drawback of getting little sunlight except on the upper floor. Still, it seemed like a good place to discuss something secret.

Valerie, Knut, and the Black Hand trio sat around the round table.

Raily spoke first.

“This is something only the monastery kids know. A story about the abbot that has been passed down from the distant elders to this day.”

After beginning, he looked at Roy and Ella, his companions, childhood friends, and family. They were close enough to communicate through their eyes alone, but right now, all he could read was unease.

Raily gathered himself and continued.

“You know better than anyone, Salt Prince, that Gringen is where all sorts of criminals who have gone as far as they can go drift in. The abbot was one of them. I heard he was a slave trader. When he was young, a mage captured him and experimented on him, castrating him. But that castration was a kind of payment to a demon. We don’t know what ability he gained in return. Still, we and the kids raised at the monastery fear it most of all. ‘The abbot sees and hears everything. If a child cannot keep a secret, a demon will come for them and inflict the cruelest punishment.’ That is what we were told...”

What was this nonsense? Valerie found it absurd that Raily was seriously telling such a bizarre story.

“Enough about his background. What is his routine? Where does he stay at each hour?”

Knut asked. The people involved seemed terrified of demons and such, but like Valerie, Knut showed little interest.

Valerie remained silent and watched.

“He has no particular route. Every day, he only moves between the monastery and the nearby vegetable plots at fixed times. He wakes in the morning, mourns the dead gods, copies famous prophecies, records the reports he receives, tends the plots, mourns again, teaches the children, and goes to sleep. The problem is that he always has five guards around him. There are ten guards in total. They take turns one at a time, and two guard him at night.”

“Does he always eat something in particular? Or have a habit, like scratching his nose often?”

“He only eats food he has grown himself. He does not seem to have any particular habits.”

“Then poisoning him will be difficult. We’ll have to kill him directly. It seems our only chance is when the most guards are asleep. We kill the eight sleeping guards at once, then all storm the abbot’s room. What do you think, Wid?”

Perhaps because he had not assassinated Ketilmund for nothing, Knut immediately found an answer.

The only thing Knut had overlooked back then was that he had not expected Valerie to be that skilled. Other than that, his plan had been perfect.

He had attached attendants for surveillance and communication, learned Valerie’s movements and sleeping hours, then tried to cut off his breath in one stroke.

From Knut’s perspective, Valerie had merely looked shocked and fled. How could he have expected him to turn around and strike back?

Normally, when faced with the threat of death, people ran without looking back.

It was remarkable enough to have the presence of mind to counterattack. To find the weakness perfectly and exploit it alone was truly difficult to imagine.

In other words, unless there was a variable like Valerie, Knut was quite capable of making and carrying out operational plans.

He was only helpless when it came to his father and brothers. With everyone else, he was cold and merciless.

And although Valerie felt sorry for him because he had been abused by his father, it was also true that the abuse had twisted his personality.

Considering all that, Valerie somehow felt Knut resembled his former self.

“What kind of woman was your mother?”

“She was a Valkyrie. Why?”

Valkyries were the king’s daughters, in other words, princesses.

One might wonder whether it was possible to behead a princess, but just as there were many princes, there were nearly as many princesses. Once they were married off, royal privilege did not extend to them.

If the king had been alive, people might at least have been cautious. Unfortunately, Knut’s mother was not a daughter of Helgi, the current king, but of Sigmund, the previous king and founding king. She had no protection.

A man who had killed all his siblings and nephews to become king could not possibly feel affection for a half-sister he had never even seen in his life.

Like Knut’s mother, Valkyries often lived tragic lives after their royal father died.

In that case, Valerie and Knut were cousins.

“...”

“A Valkyrie is just a pretty shell. Don’t make things difficult over that.”

“...I’m not. It’s just something I learned. Anyway, tonight, we become demons. And we will demand payment from the abbot. His death. Tell us the terrain around the monastery and its internal layout.”

Before his regression, when Valerie killed the master of the Black Hand, he had simply led in an army and slaughtered everyone. He did not know the terrain or interior layout in detail.

But now they had few people and needed to carry out a precise assassination, so they needed as much specific information as possible.

Valerie asked the trio for more details, such as the number of night watchmen for each time period, guard positions, entrances, routes through the corridors, and whether there was a basement.

After hearing everything, Valerie made a detailed plan. They decided who would eliminate the night watch, who would enter first, their formation, who would take the lead, middle, and rear, and what hand signals they would use.

The trio, who had been quietly listening, tilted their heads and exchanged looks. Then Ella spoke.

“This is what we do, though?”

Who had Valerie first learned such knowledge and skills from? Of course they would be similar.

“Similar is good. It makes it easier to work together. We will not scout the area. He is cautious, so he may hide at the slightest sign of anything strange. And you will stay with us until it is time for the operation. It is the minimum needed for trust, so understand.”

If they separated and agreed to meet again, something unexpected could happen in between. If they changed their minds, it could be fatal.

The trio nodded as though they understood.

“In a way, this is our first assignment since the group was founded. The payment is loyalty. Do we need a contract or something?”

“No. We are only escaping the chains of demons to be bound by the chains of a contract. We have merely chosen better chains.”

“That is good, then. Think as you please.”

Valerie spoke indifferently. On closer consideration, Valerie did have many things in common with Knut. Perhaps being uncaring and cold ran in the family.

Though they were also quite good to people once they opened their hearts to them.

Night deepened. The air was cool enough to be cold, but perfect for moving.

From the distant reed beds came the chorus of an enormous number of frogs, along with the calls of some unknown bird, crying ha, ho. Those sounds filled the darkness in place of light.

Valerie and Knut prepared clothing and equipment suited to an assassination operation. Tight black clothing, masks that revealed only their eyes, short swords, and several daggers.

Assassins were better off being short and quick. Perhaps for that reason, the clothing suited Knut better than the taller Valerie.

In any case, Valerie signaled that they were not to speak from now on. Raily nodded and took the lead.

Night operations were difficult unless someone had exceptionally sharp night vision. Old stories often featured night raids, but they were not truly easy.

Fortunately, Valerie and Knut both had good night vision.

The group walked west along the outskirts of Gringen. From time to time, they saw crimes being committed in the distance, but ignored them and passed by. Night was simply that kind of time.

They walked in a line and rarely saw one another, but Ella happened to look at Valerie and thought something was strange. It looked like his eyes were glowing.

But when she looked again after they passed near a bonfire, the light was gone. She wondered if she had imagined it.

At last, the five arrived at the monastery. Since they knew exactly where and how many guards stood watch, they smoothly headed for the weakest point.

Two people stood at the entrance. One was asleep, while the other sat idly carving something with a knife.

As they had agreed beforehand, Valerie signaled that he and Raily would handle them at the same time. They had to do it simultaneously, so the other would not make a sound.

The two approached quickly without making a sound, covered the guards’ mouths from behind, and slit their throats with daggers. They held the guards’ heads tight against their bodies so they could not make a sound until they died.

“Ghk! Ghhk!”

Blood spilled from their mouths and ran between Valerie and Raily’s fingers, staining their clothes. Once they were certain the guards were dead, they gently laid them down and moved them into a place without light.

Then they quickly picked the lock and entered the monastery. The corridor was black as pitch, but they held onto the person ahead of them and moved in the proper direction.

They first went to the room where the guards slept. Of the ten men, two guarded the abbot’s room even at this hour, while the others stayed in two rooms of four.

They entered one of the rooms first, took positions beside each bed, and drew their daggers. Knut kept watch outside in case anything unexpected happened.

Valerie counted three, two, one on his fingers.

Then they all covered the sleeping guards’ mouths tightly and stabbed them in the throat at the same time.

Someone stabbed in the throat while asleep was bound to wake with a jolt, but their body stiffened, and they could not thrash as violently as expected.

They kept the guards’ mouths covered until all four were completely dead. Then, after exchanging looks and confirming it, they removed their hands.

But when they emerged, Knut had just killed someone and was laying the body on the floor.

They could not speak, so they did not ask what had happened. They could only guess.

Perhaps the person had briefly gotten up to urinate.

Two of them carried the body into the room and hid it, then moved to the next room. In the same way, they stabbed the other four to death simultaneously.

Their hands and daggers were so covered in blood that they had to wipe them on their clothes repeatedly. Grease would dull the blades. Valerie especially kept his right hand, the one holding his sword, as clean as possible.

Only the abbot’s room remained.

Valerie checked their numbers and took the lead this time. He drew his short sword instead of a dagger. It was a new blade he had not used once during the operation.

Two people should have been guarding the room, but only one was visible outside. Was the other the person Knut had just killed? Or had they gone somewhere else?

Light leaked through the crack beneath the abbot’s door. Valerie could not tell whether the abbot was still awake or had noticed something.

It did not matter. They had to move quickly. Hesitation during an operation was a sin.

Valerie crouched so low that he nearly touched the ground and moved swiftly, truly like a snake.

When he judged the distance right, he sprang up like a released spring, slit the guard’s throat, and immediately threw the door open.

“Ghk! Cough!”

The guard whose throat had been cut made a sound.

The room was lit by the fire in the hearth and a lantern. Someone who appeared to be the abbot had been doing something on the bed, then turned around in alarm.

Valerie immediately rushed forward like lightning and swung his sword downward. The abbot raised an arm to block it, but the sharp sword cut through the arm and split his skull halfway open.

Thud!

Clang!

It was a killing blow, but Valerie had struck down with such force in his haste that the sword broke. The abbot’s brain had been damaged, and his body convulsed violently once before he died.

But there was one more person on the bed. She was a woman, and she swiftly attacked Valerie with a dagger.

Valerie let go of the broken sword and tried to evade, but there was no need. Knut entered almost at the same moment, cut off her arm, dropped his sword, immediately drew a dagger, and stabbed her in the neck.

In an actual fight, it was not easy to target someone’s throat unless they stood still. Yet in that dim space, Knut had slit her throat with precision.

“Agh!”

Soon, the woman who had been with the abbot also died. The operation was over.

He had supposedly been castrated, so what had he been doing with a woman?

When Valerie turned around, Raily, Roy, and Ella were standing there stupidly, staring at him.

They could not believe that the man who had controlled them mentally all their lives was dead. It had been this simple? Where was the demon?

The operation was over, so Valerie spoke.

“Stop standing there stupidly. Empty the safe and get out.”

Valerie and Knut immediately searched the room. Bundles of documents were piled on the bookshelf. Valerie skimmed them, then quickly frowned.

They recorded all sorts of grotesque and disgusting acts that were difficult to put into words.

It was not merely making children pickpocket, cutting off their fingers, and selling the children. There were many things beyond imagination.

“He really is a demon.”

Knut, who had been looking beside him, spoke indifferently.

Valerie gathered all the documents and threw them into the fire.

Then he searched the room again and found a key. Knut felt along the walls and discovered a hidden compartment. The two of them had the skills of born thieves.

When Knut twisted something like a statue hanging on the wall, several bricks turned. There was a small space behind them, containing a tiny safe.

Valerie brought over the lantern, shone its light on the lock, inserted the key, and turned it. Surprisingly, there was not a single coin inside, only a dagger in a sheath.

“What is this? Is it expensive?”

Valerie said, reaching out to touch it. Knut hurriedly grabbed his hand and pulled it back.

“Don’t.”

“Why?”

“I think this might be Ridill.”

“Ridill?”

“Yeah. The dagger of the dwarf Regin, who killed a dragon with Sigurd. It might be cursed. You should not touch it carelessly.”

Knut collected daggers as well as toys and various odds and ends, so he had seen illustrations of Ridill’s appearance in a catalogue. He was not certain, but there was no harm in being careful.

Valerie had seen various mythical relics before his regression, including Gram, but he had never seen Ridill.

“Wait here.”

Knut looked around for something like tongs. Naturally, there was nothing of the sort, so he used two swords to grip the dagger and take it out.

Then he tore a bedsheet into a bundle, dropped the dagger he believed to be Ridill inside, and wrapped it tightly so no one would touch it.

“Is there a demon sealed inside it or something?”

“Maybe.”

“Hey, what are you doing? Let’s go.”

Valerie turned to the trio.

“Huh? Huh? Yes?”

Though the trio had performed well during the operation, they seemed deeply shocked by the abbot’s death.

“Come find us after you collect yourselves. Let’s go.”

Valerie left them behind and simply departed with Knut.

For a long while, the trio stared at the dead abbot on the bed. His arm had been cut off, a broken sword was embedded in his head, and blood had soaked the blanket and bed. He had supposedly been castrated. Where was the demon?

Nothing grand was needed to control people mentally. Continuous brainwashing from childhood simply became iron chains they could never break for the rest of their lives.

The tales of castration and deals with demons had all been childish stories.

The abbot the trio now saw was no different from the countless people they had assassinated. He was merely one of the many humans ruled by desire.

Raily, Roy, and Ella finally realized something. The strict rule of secrecy was not meant to protect the organization. It was a shackle meant to keep them from running away.

In any case, they no longer needed to be restrained. Yet the feeling of liberation was closer to emptiness than joy or satisfaction.

Chapter 10: Escape and Liberation. End.

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